SOUTH SHIELDS STALYBRIDGE ATHLETIC

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DARIUS Osei and Blair Adams both scored twice as South Shields kept up the pressure on league leaders Buxton with a comfortable win against Stalybridge Celtic.

In contrast to their poor away form, performances on their home patch have been near-faultless for Kevin Phillips’ side and they looked in confident mood in the opening stages at the 1st Cloud Arena.

It took them 18 minutes to open the scoring as Osei got his first goal after good work from Jordan Hunter gave the forward an opportunity he could not miss.

Osei doubled his tally and his side’s lead just before the half-hour mark after he collected a precise pass from Robert Briggs and crashed a shot beyond visitors’ keeper Grant Shenton.

The visitors had two late chances ahead of half-time with Charley Doyle heading wide and Stephen Brogan seeing his shot blocked by Mariners’ keeper Myles Boney.

The opening moments of the second-half brought more dominance from South

Shields as Osei came agonisingly close to a hat-trick when his header dropped just past the post.

With the pressure continuing to increase, a third goal arrived just after the hour-mark when Blair Adams was found by fellow full-back Hunter and made no mistake at the far post.

Adams then doubled his tally with just over quarter of an hour remaining as he took a pass from substitute Cedric Main and left Shenton with no chance with a deadly finish.

That killed off any resistance from their visitors and ensured South Shields remain just two points adrift of leaders Buxton.